Research institutes won't be reorganized... out of thin air

Reforms and reorganizations don't always yield the intended effects when executed improperly. The Minister of Research, Innovation, and Digitalization, Bogdan Ivan, stated that there will be "no form of reorganization" of research institutes done "from the office, out of thin air" without understanding the realities within them. He mentioned that the only "constant and clear" approach is to identify ways to enhance research activities through discussions involving specialists, scientists, administrative personnel, the private sector, students, and pupils. According to the minister, "We cannot pretend not to see the pink elephant in the room when it comes to reorganization, when it comes to how that final form of the austerity ordinance will look, which will indirectly affect the research segment currently managed by the Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digitalization. I want it to be very clear, there will be no form of reorganization, from the office, out of thin air, without knowing the realities. The only constant and clear option will be one where we all sit at the table with specialists, scientists, administrative personnel, the private sector, students, and pupils, and find a way to enhance all that research activity encompasses." During the official opening of the sixth edition of the Science and Technology Summer School in Măgurele (MSciTeh), the minister added, "The most important thing is that people in the ministry's institutes have developed truly amazing things, but unfortunately, many times, these things haven't passed the institute's gate. This is the real challenge, one we need to solve together, and from this perspective, I must tell you that we are already working and, in a week or two, their first project regarding the technological transfer and innovative startup area should be ready. The model is a very simple one, used in the USA (...). I'm clearly referring to how we can bring together the private sector, the institute, and the researcher at the same table for concrete projects, and each member of that final panel, which will eventually impact the economy." In this context, Ivan stated that for young researchers who have left the country and want to return to Romania, our country has a very good model of research, pilot projects, with grants over one million euros: "Romania has a very good model of research pilot projects for young researchers who have gone abroad and want to return to Romania, with grants over one million euros, for which there have already been applicants, the line is open, and many young Romanian researchers abroad, who can return to Romania, are yet to apply. After we finish the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, because this is a program funded through the NRRP, together with the private sector, who are very serious partners, we will be able to create concrete projects, mechanisms to have concrete projects. There's a website that isn't practically finished yet, but I understand that within the next nine months to a year at the latest, we will already have a physical form of this project, together with local authorities from Ilfov, namely, Romania's first physical innovation hub. At the same time, I want to take that innovation aspect into the virtual realm, and we already have a demo version of this project. We will have an innovation platform in the metaverse, which all researchers can enter, where we can have competitions. I would really like for it to be an innovation hub not just for Romania, but for the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe. Let's bring you together, at the same table with those who have no idea what you're doing, but are businesspeople willing to invest in a very smart idea with potential for success in the future." According to Ivan, these forms of partnership between institutes, the scientific community, the private sector, students, and pupils should be formalized in a memorandum within the Government, and they should continue regardless of who is in power.